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Indonesian Police Seize Bombs, Arrest 9 Suspected Terrorists

October 27, 2009 12:10 PM

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Indonesian Police Seize Bombs, Arrest 9 Suspected Terrorists

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Indonesian police discovered a supply of homemade bombs during a raid
in South Sumatra. Nine people were arrested in connection with the
discovery and taken to the country's capital. Chad Bouchard reports
from Jakarta.

About 20 homemade bombs were found in the attic of a rented house in the city of Palembang in southern Sumatra.

Police General Inspector Ito Sumardi says that police could not immediately identify the suspects.

He
says the suspects' identities are not yet clear, but police have taken
fingerprints from the crime scene and sent them to another location to
be analyzed. He says they will have to wait one or two days for the
results.

Members of the anti-terrorism squad called Detachment
88 were involved in the arrests. The squad is trained by experts from
the United States and Australia.

News media have reported that one of the suspects is a fugitive from Singapore blamed for a plot to bomb an airport there.

That
man, Mas Selamat Kastari, is alleged to be the Singapore leader of
Jemaah Islamiah, a militant Islamic group based in Indonesia. The group
has ties to the al-Qaida network.

JI is considered to be
responsible for a chain of bombings in Southeast Asia, including the
2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people.

Dozens of men
linked to JI, which allegedly wants to establish an Islamic state in
much of Southeast Asia, have been convicted in Indonesia on terrorism
charges.